this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2026
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The first one. The one i said lasted 50 days is Heltec MeshPocket. https://heltec.org/project/meshpocket/
Well the 10Ah Heltec MeshPocket would definetely last longer. The only thing that's nicer on the RAK is that it's got an external antenna connector so you can plug any antenna into it. I had a Heltec MeshPocket 5Ah and it lasted less than my RAK. It may have been something that was fixed down the road. I got one of the very first units because I preordered it long before they produced it.
I got the 10Ah version in october 2025 and have tested it to last 50 days once already and am at 42 days as of now
Ia there much mesh traffic where you are? How many nodes do you see?
At the moment, unfortunately, no. General average is about 5 to 10 nodes.
The battery life makes more sense now. As the mesh grows, retransmission increases and therefore power consumption. Either way, the 10Ah Heltec would last the longest.
It's a portable device, so I always run mine in client mute, so it's not retransmitting other packets, because it's kind of pointless to do so with such a small antenna.
Oh yeah that also increases batt life.